Writing Skills Tutoring

Basic Sentence Structure
All the elements of a sentence, explained. Contains links to additional videos, tutorials, and webinars on sentences and grammar for those who want to learn more. From Walden University.

Sentence Fragments
Explanation from Grammarly on how to identify and fix sentence fragments (AKA incomplete sentences).

Run-On Sentences
The Center for Writing at the University of Minnesota with tips on how to fix run-on sentences.

Faulty Parallelism in Sentences
Faulty parallelism is when the pattern within a sentence or list doesn't follow the same grammatical form. Capilano College explains this complex error in clear, straightforward language.

Wordiness
Need to get that word count down? The Writing Center at Idaho State University explains how to eliminate wordiness in your writing.

Filler Words
Great article from Grammarly on "31 Words and Phrases You Can Cut From Your Writing."

Subject-Verb Agreement
Help on getting your subjects and verbs to agree, from the University of Waterloo Writing and Communication Centre.

Article use: a, an, the
An explanation of how to use articles—a, an, the—correctly in our writing. Articles are definite and indefinite and can be tricky to master, especially for ESL learners. Grammarly explains these little words with complex rules.

Spelling Tips
Move beyond the spell checker! Great tips from the University of Toronto.

Commas: A Quick Guide
Need a quick primer on the most common comma rules? St. Louis Community College explains this most misused and misunderstood punctuation mark.

Commas: A Deeper Dive
Looking for a more comprehensive explanation of comma rules? Grammarly helps you take a deep dive.

Semi-Colons, Colons, and Dashes
Do you know when to use which one? The Writing Center at UNC at Chapel Hill explains it.

Hyphens
According to SUNY Empire State College, "hyphens are like trailer hitches." Find out why and which words need them!

Em Dash
We love the em dash here at the Writing Skills Centre! It can take the place of commas, colons, and brackets. The Punctuation Guide explains how and where to use this versatile and underused punctuation mark.

Quotation Marks
Do you know how to punctuate a quote from a source? Does the period go inside or outside the quotation marks? What about question marks? This link from The Punctuation Guide is essential reading to get it right.

Parts of Speech: The Rules
The University of Ottawa explains the eight parts of speech—verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections—and how to put them together. Take the quiz at the end to test your knowledge.

Singular "They"
Statement and guidelines from APA on using "they" as a singular noun for more inclusive language.

Indigenous Peoples Terminology Guidelines
Guidelines on inclusive language when writing about Indigenous Peoples and issues in Canada. From Indigenous Corporate Training Inc.